"Brat! I have a job to do, so you're on your own!"
Naruto groaned as she shoved herself awake. "I need food money, Ero-Sennin! And you're supposed to be training me!"
A bag was tossed at her face.
She yelped and fell on her back, dragging the bag off her face, her eyebrow twitching, annoyed.
The hotel door slammed.
Naruto made a face, then sighed and got up, making her way out, the bag on her hip. Jiraiya was already gone, lost in the crowds.
Naruto rolled her eyes and walked to the first store, making note of names and faces.
Jiraiya had left her a code in the bag, having told her before they left. She'd have to make her way to that town within the month; right now, she just had to stay out of trouble.
"-think she's really in this town?" a familiar voice grated.
Naruto tensed a little, glad she was wearing a hat to mask her hair. Nevertheless, she'd have to hurry to the hotel to get her dirty clothes.
She laughed, turning to the man beside her. He had strange sideburns.
"Maa, maa, Shiki-san, this milk has an expiration date of three weeks from now!" She giggled. "How silly of you!" She kept that smile on her face as she hissed, "Please just go along with this."
He seemed to understand. "Mimiko-chan, insightful as always." He set the milk down. "Would you like to go back to the hotel? I find myself bored."
Her ears picked up sound.
"-the Sennin, he picks the hotel closest to the onsen."
Ha, fucker! I picked the hotel this time!
"Of course." She kept her eyes lowered, the stranger's physique hiding her from Itachi and Kisame. Thankfully, he was heading towards the Spring's Inn. "Keep walking, please," she said through that fake-ass smile, pretending to be relaxed as she felt sudden resistance from the man.
They parted ways at the Spring's Inn, which should have been the end of it.
~:~
She ran out of town like she was catching up to someone. When she was out of the town and about ten miles out, she stopped, ready to set some traps.
Sitting in the middle of her trap-infested area, he was reading a book when he heard two sets of approaching footsteps.
"Naruto-kun."
"Matte, Itachi-san. I really wanna finish this chapter before I get taken to the Akatsuki." He snapped the book shut and stood, keeping his eyes closed – and then opening them and staring at the man behind the two, who was aiming a strange weapon at Itachi.
He ground his teeth. "Fuck."
He ran at them, snapping and setting off the paper bombs, then vanishing and pulling the man with the strange sideburns away, jumping easily with the man adjusting to being carried by a child about a decade younger than him.
He set the man with weird sideburns down about six miles away, nowhere near a safe zone.
"Stay!" he yelled at the man like he was a dog. "You just ruined my plan!"
"Uncomplicated mine, brat."
Naruto's vision blackened as the man hit him on the back of the neck.
Shit…
~:~
Naruto gasped as he woke up. Of course, he couldn't hear – this was a sensory deprivation room.
He tried everything, from yelling to crying to touching something to summoning healing chakra.
He didn't know why the memory he'd dreamed up bothered him so badly.
Don't make me bail you out again, stupid.
But… If that had really been Reborn back then…
He shook his head. Now was the time to get the hell out of this thing.
Light almost blinded Naruto as Tobi's Mokuton ability broke through the chamber.
"You idiots," Naruto said, rising fluidly. "You always forget to –"
He froze as that chill pervaded her being.
"Hello, honey," Momoshiki smiled at her darkly. "You ready to finish this?"
Naruto swallowed.
"Not really, babe," he said in Italian, sticking his tongue out at Momoshiki. Momoshiki frowned.
Naruto took that as his chance and ran.
~:~
"YOU'RE IN LEAGUE WITH A GENOCIDAL MANIAC, AND YOU THINK TAKING THE VONGOLA RINGS IS BAD?!"
To be fair, Naruto had just entered the lab as Irie Shoichi was killing two Cervello, and had glimpsed the Vongola Rings with her exceptional eyesight.
"Naruto," began Reborn, only for Naruto to snarl, her eyes crimson.
"No," she rasped around slightly elongated incisors. "No. They've allied themselves with Momoshiki."
"Ah – Byakuran-san he was the only one you could never defeat," Shoichi said. "He said he pulled someone from another dimension here, too."
"He's not wrong," Naruto spat. "But I'm bound by two things. One, this damn pacifier. And two, the fact I won't use my full power against him."
"Maybe it's time you did," Shoichi said, sweating as Naruto turned her glare onto him.
Everyone in the room stared as Naruto trembled.
"You have no idea what he's done," Naruto whispered, her bangs shadowing her eyes. "He destroyed my homeland."
"He has shown his abilities –"
"Are shit when it comes to the sun," Naruto snapped. "You think he's a scary shinobi? That person is less human than I am, and that's saying something."
"Gomen!" Shoichi looked petrified. "You, Hibari-san and Tsuna-san agreed that this was the best way to defeat Byakuran!"
"I don't think I was too concerned with Byakuran," Naruto snapped at the man.
~:~
"The Arcobaleno Trials," announced Reborn. "We haven't ever done them before, but it would be best if you could get the Varia here."
"What, put a fake assassination job up on their website?" Naruto snarked, now back in her baby form.
"Why not? Assassinating you would be a chore for all of them… Xanxus would even try to kill you," Colonello said dryly. "If what you said is true, anyway, kora."
"What, that I trained Xanxus? Of course I did. For about one and a half years. I didn't make that much of an impression on him," Naruto scoffed.
"Tch. That's a lie," Lal said. "He picked up your drinking habit. You might want to make sure he hasn't died of alcohol poisoning, at least."
"I'll be back from Italy in two days," Naruto said, an irk mark appearing as Lal smirked. Naruto turned away from the other three Arcobaleno, but stopped short and punched the air.
Skull appeared from nowhere, shrieking as he flew and collided with the wall. "Itai!" the former stuntman yelled.
"Don't try to sneak up on me, Skull," Naruto said with zero emotion. "I'll be back in two days to give my trial to Tsuna."
Naruto walked away.
~:~
"I'd like you to teach my son."
A single blue eye opened, hazed over with alcohol (Vongola Nono assumed it was alcohol, anyway…).
"Why me? Why now?" the slurring Arcobaleno asked.
"You're the only one here. I'd ask the Sun Arcobaleno, but he's taken to roaming around the world just like you did."
The baby fumbled around for a container, then, finding one full of her preferred drink, chugged it.
"Sounds like that asshole," Naruto mused after lowering the bottle. "Aright, I'll teach the damn brat. Just don't take 'way my poison stash."
The Ninth sweatdropped.
~"~
"Oi, Vongola brat." Xanxus looked up, glaring at the Arcobaleno. "I'm your new teacher."
"Why do I need trash as my teacher?"
"Oh, Xan-xan," she said with a smile, jumping off the wall. "Lesson one."
Xanxus faceplanted, the force of her kick digging his face into the dirt.
"Don't call me trash, fucking brat."
~"~
"VOI! What are you doing to Xanxus?!"
"Educating him about alcohol," Naruto groaned. "I… was. Hmm." She opened her eyes to see the white-haired kid staring at her with wide eyes. "Not, actually, drinking alcohol."
She eyed the unconscious and snoring Xanxus, kicking him awake.
"Wake up, brat."
~"~
"And what would you know about family? You damn Arcobaleno are unflappable! You're not human!"
Xanxus panted from the effort.
Naruto set, for the first time, her newest mix of poison down.
"My entire country was destroyed by a maniac who wants to kill me," Naruto said, the dull pain threatening to swallow her up. Xanxus dropped the papers, looking shocked. "I never got to say goodbye to them. They were my family. And you know what else? I never knew my blood family." Naruto smiled, wiping her face. "My parents were killed by an impossible being, and my clan was wiped out decades ago. Sure, I don't know how it feels to be adopted, but hell, when I was a kid I would've been grateful for adoption."
Naruto hopped up and got in Xanxus' face.
"So suck it up, look him in the eyes, and don't fuckin' back down," she ordered him. "Just to make sure he won't react badly, I'll go to him first."
He reacted badly.
~"~
"I'm Naruto," she introduced to her neighbor.
"S-sawada Tsunayoshi," the teen said, staring at her for a long moment. "You're not a normal baby, are you?"
"Nope, I'm a demon from the mafia," Naruto said in a bland tone, smiling up at him.
Not five seconds afterwards Tsuna screamed and ran away as black mists entered her vision.
"Bermuda!" she turned and greeted the head of the Vendicare Prison.
"Are you breaking –"
"For the last time, NO."
"No need to yell," the child mumbled. "You're fucking annoying."
"Shut the hell up. Was there something you needed?"
"Yes, actually." Bermuda smiled at her from under the bandages. "You saw Viper before you left, did you not?"
"Viper smuggled me out," Naruto replied. "They didn't tell me where Xanxus was."
"Oh, he was enduring a fate better than yours. Anyway, let's go."
"Where?"
"Off to see the world!"
~:~
Naruto slammed the Varia mansion doors open. "OI, XAN-XAN!"
A sword narrowly missed her face, but Naruto only scoffed and jumped up onto the railing. "Squalo, you've let your training slow."
"Why you –" The loudest Mafia member lunged out, being pulled back by the Lightning idiot.
"I don't have time to mess around with you, I have to be back in Japan by Friday," Naruto growled. "So either get me Xanxus now, or tell him I'm going to kill all of you until he does –"
A shot narrowly missed her ear.
"Naruto-sensei," Xanxus said, his gun smoking. "You're growing careless in your old age."
An irk mark attached itself to her forehead.
"Old… Age?"
And just like that, three more join the single irk mark and Naruto opened blazing ruby eyes.
"OLD AGE, YOU PIECE OF SHIT?!"
Xanxus gulped before turning tail.
A swirling, blue ball of pure energy put itself together in the tiny baby's hands.
"I'LL SHOW YOU OLD AGE, TEME!"
She raced after him, the swirling ball of energy cupped in her hand.
~:~
"-called me old and I decided to Rasengan his ass!" Naruto ranted to Aria over the phone. "Honestly, who does he think he is, a mafia boss or something?"
"VOI! Boss is the leader of the Var –"
Naruto threw a kunai, pinning the loudmouth to the wall.
"You're on a fucking plane, asshole, so shut the hell up," she snarled at him.
Speaking of the plane, most of the other members on it were just trying not to stare at the baby with strange skills and a cell phone to her ear.
"He IS the leader of the Varia," Aria said, amusement in her tone. "Yuni, don't – no, Yuni, not the poison! Naruto, when you're finished with your current job, you need to get your ass over here and take your stash of poison, because I'm running out of places to hide – GAMMA, YOU BETTER NOT DRINK THAT SHIT, IT'S LITERAL POISON!"
Aria hung up, probably to save her daughter's guardian.
"I don't want Yuni-chan to die," Naruto mused. "Ah, well, I spared her life once. It's on her if –"
Her phone rang, and Naruto accepted it.
"Yes?"
"If you think for a second to let my daughter die by drinking your damn poison –"
"I wasn't thinking that at all," Naruto eyesmiled. "I was only trying to get you to call me back. It's terribly boring –"
Click.
"Eh? Aria-chan?" Naruto pouted. "Dammit, I wanted to talk to her more."
"Naruto-kun."
Naruto jolted, standing up in her seat and listening.
There was no way. There was no fucking way that Itachi was still alive.
~:~
"I must be going crazy."
In her mind, Sasuke blinked at her.
"So you heard my brother's voice. So what?"
"Sasuke, Itachi is dead, like everyone else but Skull and I," Naruto pointed out, annoyed.
"Yeah, well. Not everyone stays dead in our world." His pointed look made her glare at him.
"And whose fault is that?" she asked, giving him a fake smile before dropping it.
Sasuke sighed. "I know. I know it's my fault you can't die. How have you been faring otherwise? It's been a while since we talked – that training room incident and then our people –" his breath caught.
Naruto swallowed. "Th- thirty years since the training room. I've been cursed again."
She told him, with a tiny grin, of her new curse.
"Wow," he said at length. "That Kawahira dude is fucked up."
"He told me that the world was founded with the tri-ni-sette ore in it, and the Mare rings, Vongola rings, and these pacifiers were basically keeping the world together." She materialized her pacifier, frowning as Sasuke took one look at it and began snickering. "What?"
"You have to wear a pacifier? Can you actually use it as a pacifier?"
"It would be oddly appropriate," Naruto mused, "if we were actually babies."
She clapped a hand over her mouth as Sasuke stopped laughing – and then howled.
"You're babies?! Gods above I want to see that!"
Naruto blushed in embarrassment.
~:~
"Oi, brat." Xanxus hit his unconscious teacher with his gun.
His teacher opened her eyes, annoyance sparking in them for a moment before she tilted her head.
"We're landing."
"It's a bit early to land, isn't it?" Mammon appeared next to them, though Naruto didn't jump Xanxus had the feeling she inwardly did. "I'll check it out."
"Vi – Mammon, you can die easier than I can."
His ex-teacher vanished, there was a loud pop sound in everyone's ears, and then the Sky was back.
"No, we're here. I mean, sure, not in Namimori, but I guess this plane wasn't supposed to go all the way to Namimori."
"Um…" Mammon seemed slightly annoyed. "Naruto, those are the elite Japanese task force designed to catch killers."
"So, are they here for us, who all traveled under our real names, or someone else, who traveled under a fake name?" Naruto smiled brilliantly.
"Out of all of us on this plane, Sensei, you and Viper are the only ones who don't have a full background."
"That, and we're babies," Viper pointed out.
"Let's take advantage of that, then," Naruto said with an edged grin. "OI, KNIFE BOY! YOU'RE GOING TO PRETEND TO BE MY OLDER BROTHER!"
"I hate this idea already," Xanxus grumbled.
~:~
The elite task force sent to find an Italian fugitive eyed the people getting off the plane with interest.
"You sure that he was getting off this plane?"
"'Course I was, moron."
There was an Italian group that, ordinarily, they would have skipped over, but knowing Italy actually did have underground mafia groups, didn't – at first sight – dismiss.
Of course, the two babies were odd, since both of them were held in awkward fashions and had scowls on their faces, but otherwise, one of the women in the elite squad actually patted the head of one of the babies and didn't die, so…
"VOI, can we just get out of here?!" exploded the long-haired man.
"Shut up, shark trash." The man with the feathers in his hair spoke out of the corner of his mouth, glaring hatefully at the baby in his arms. "I am not paying Mammon for this."
"Can we go soon, honey?" a man with a flamboyant hairstyle said with a smile, staring at one of the elite squad's members with a bit too much interest.
"Yeah, you're free to go," the squad man said with a grunt. "Where're you headed, if it's not to much to ask?"
"Hosenka, ushishishi," the creepy blonde child with the blonde baby in his arms said. "I heard there was an amazing hot spring there, ushishishishi."
"And we didn't make the trip from Italy for your dumbass desire to go to a damn hot spring," the man with the feathers snapped.
"No, we're going to Nami –"
The weirdo with the weird-shaped beard shut up as the flamboyant man laughed and leaned on the his shoulder.
"Ah, yes… We're going to Namikuni! Land of waves, right?"
The yellow-haired baby grunted for some reason, the blonde child shaking her.
"I would kill all of you, but it'd be too much of a hassle to clean up all the blood," the man with feathers said blandly. "Now let's go, or the baby trash is going to lose all hope."
"You never said why we were going to that idiot's place, not after he so thoroughly beat you before."
"Do I need a reason, Levi?"
"No, boss!"
"That's what I thought."
~:~
"Lussuria!" Naruto's Sky Flames, unable to manifest properly, batted against Lussuria's, causing her to gulp as Wrath Flames emitted
"Yes, Sky-chan?"
"Nami no Kuni is the proper name for the Land of Waves," Naruto said after a moment, her Sky Flames losing its Wrath feeling.
"Hai, Sky-chan!" The tiny Sky huffed out a breath and vanished from her seat in the limo.
What with the tiny person's ability to vanish from inside a plane and then be back in the space of a few seconds, nobody commented on the fact she'd vanished from a moving car.
"Lussuria."
Her boss' voice brought Lussuria's attention.
"Don't ever say words like that in her presence. It could spell your end."
Lussuria nodded.
"Hai, boss!"
~:~
"I'm here." Naruto's lack of dramatics suggested the youngest Arcobaleno was thinking deeply about something.
"Ready to test Tsuna? He's failed my test."
Naruto eyed him. "No, he hasn't."
Tsuna blinked. "But, Reborn said –"
"Reborn is an asshole, and therefore shouldn't have even been involved with you before the Trials," Naruto said flatly. "He failed you because he didn't want to seem like he was picking his student. It wouldn't be fair."
"But then –"
"It's up to the Sky to order me to give him the Seal," Reborn said flatly, staring at Naruto. "I won't do it otherwise."
Naruto's eyes narrowed.
"I order you to give him the Seal," she declared.
Reborn huffed, but a tiny smirk came onto his face.
"And now?" Tsuna eyed her, hope in his face.
Naruto eyed him critically. "I want to see you free Mukuro."
There was a dead silence.
"I want you," she said, leaning forward into Tsuna's personal space, "to convince the leader of Vendicare that Mukuro doesn't deserve to be there."
Reborn's smirk had vanished. "Mukuro broke –"
"He actually didn't," Naruto said flatly, smirking at Reborn. "Mukuro did not break Omerta, and I look forward to your explanation to Bermuda-san."
"But how – how do I get him here?" Tsuna squeaked.
Honestly, the fact he's willing to do it would be enough. But… I suppose it would be entertaining to see him free Mukuro.
Naruto closed her eyes to focus, seeking her suppressed bond with Bermuda.
The chilly mist chilled Naruto to the bone. It was simply a theatrical gesture.
"Why have you summoned me here, Sky?"
"I – she summoned you here for me!" Tsuna said, looking terrified.
"I did," Naruto acknowledged. "He has a request for you, Bermuda-kun."
Bermuda flicked her, sending her flying.
It was moments like this Naruto wished Kia was with her and not 'doing her own thing' as the tiny fox tended to do.
Naruto slammed into the wall, Bermuda's strength augmented by his Mist power.
And the fact he was the oldest Arcobaleno.
"What is it you want, Vongola Decimo?"
Tsuna activated Hyper Dying Will mode. Naruto sweatdropped – Bermuda was not that scary.
"I want you to release Rokudo Mukuro." His calm voice held no reservations. "Mukuro-san was unaware of Omerta. And technically, he did not involve those not already involved."
Okay, that was a kind of lie, as Naruto had heard Mukuro had kicked most of Namimori Middle's high school population's boxing club and disciplinary members, but considering Sasagawa Ryohei's abilities as a Sun and the fact that ten years into the future Naruto was pretty certain that most of the disciplinary committee of Namimori was active in the Vongola… Well, to that extent, no, Mukuro didn't involve those not yet involved with the mafia.
"I will not speak of this with you with my two fellow Arcobaleno in the room."
With a flick of his hand, Naruto and Reborn were dropped into black mists.
~:~
With two identically loud thuds, both Arcobaleno noticed that they were adults, still had their pacifiers, and were –
"Shimatta!" Naruto took Reborn and dived forwards, out of the way of a katon jutsu.
"Did he just time travel us?" Reborn looked highly unsettled.
"Apparently, he can do that," Naruto said, remembering the whole Mafia Land thing. "And, by the way, I think we're in the middle of the Uchiha Clan's land, so don't look into their eyes!"
She jumped, Reborn still in her arms.
"This is undignified," she heard him snap as the wind rushed by.
"Would you rather be undignified, or dead?" she snapped, jumping and landing in a clearing where hundreds of shinobi sat, staring at them.
Naruto dropped Reborn with a squeak of surprise as her face turned red.
"Oh, shit," she squeaked in Italian before grabbing Reborn and jumping again, putting a little too much chakra in it and crashing headfirst into trees. "Shit!" she shouted as trees began moving to entrap them. "Why are you so damn heavy?" she snapped at Reborn.
"Why did you drop me?!" he yelled at her, reverting to Italian as well.
"You would do the same if you'd just appeared at your village's founding with two of the hottest men on the planet!" Naruto yelled, slipping back into Japanese, face burning red. She stopped, taking a breath, and let him down. "Gods above, first I use my Rasengan and now I'm here." She paced on the tree branch, trying to think. "How will Bermuda find us? He doesn't even – I don't know what to do!"
She was hyperventilating.
"Calm down," her Sun instructed. "Seriously. How much changes since the founding of your village and when –?" he went quiet, since it was a sensitive subject for her.
"Well, for starters, there's three shinobi wars and then our war, so that's four wars in the span of eighty or so years," Naruto said, taking a deep breath. "Adding into the equation that that was only the alliance back there… Shit. Shit. Shit!" She started cursing in English, then in Spanish, then in Italian.
Reborn looked amazed at her ability to rant so fervently.
"Naruto, shut up and stop cursing, and tell me what's wrong."
She stopped for a moment. "What's wrong? What's wrong?! I have the chance… I have the chance to end all the suffering –"
Before Reborn could tell her what a bad idea her idea was, a blade hit her in the shoulder.
"Shit!"
Reborn would've smacked her for using such language, but he was busy trying not to freak out as she carried him, again, away from the duo chasing them.
"They're faster than I am!" she called over the wind.
"How is that –"
"I'm not used to this height, I have to constantly re-adjust my chakra outage to jump!"
Reborn could understand that, even if he was still kind of in awe at her ability to jump from tree to tree.
"Don't shoot them, either!"
"You can heal 'em, right?"
"NOT IF THEY'RE DEAD!"
~:~
"Okay, look! We're not trying to do anything."
The blonde ninja was slowly going red from where Hashirama had her in his Mokuton hold; the other, the one with a blankness in him, sighed and glanced to the blonde.
"You're paying for my –" he said a word that sounded made up.
"Oh, go screw yourself," the woman snapped, turning her face to Hashirama, who sweatdropped as she stuck her tongue out at them.
"Okay, who are you?"
Intense… Anger was directed at Madara. "None of your business, Uchiha," she sneered. "And I swear to Inari-sama, if you try to use your Sharingan on me I'll kill you."
There was no doubting her words, until the other man spoke.
"You really can't, timewise."
"I know, Reborn!"
"Great, you gave them my name."
"I actually didn't," the woman said. "My name's Naruto, by the way. I claim asylum on grounds that you and the Uzumaki are allied with each other."
"And how would you know this?" Madara rumbled, taking another step forward.
Her clear blue eyes never left Hashirama's.
"Because I am an Uzumaki from the future." Her eyes were fierce. "And I can prove it, too."
~:~
"You're a damn idiot! What if history changed?"
"Bermuda will send us back without us making too much of a dent," Naruto replied, pulling her legs to her chest and sighing. "Now I have to prove my ancestry. Thank gods Mito-sama is here."
Reborn rolled his eyes.
"You have no idea what you're doing."
"Of course I don't!" Her exclamation was punctuated by her leaping to her feet. "I don't know – I don't know what to do in these kinds of situations! Back then, when Bermuda sent me forward in time, I had no idea of what was in store for me, only that you didn't even know I was alive! I had to preserve the future, so I never returned until well past Mafia Land! That's all I did – as soon as I heard about Mafia Land, I rushed back to Japan where my bond with you led me. And now, I'm in the past of my own village and I'm trying not to screw it up, because I know what happens and I can't do a damn thing about it!"
She panted. Luckily, she'd spoken in Italian.
"And no, I'm not owing you a damn fedora."
The door slid open, and a redheaded woman appeared.
"Where is this proof?" Mito asked, her eyes boring into Naruto's own.
Naruto held out her arm, pulling her orange sleeve up. Biting her thumb and wiping it on a particular spot, out came a weapon wrapped in white.
Slowly, Naruto unwound the hilt.
She didn't move it further.
"I will not unsheathe this blade while I have no intention of spilling blood," Naruto said clearly. "It has many forms, depending on the person wielding it. It usually comes to me as a naginata." She focused, and the naginata appeared, the blade wrapped.
However, the wraps that held the beautiful weapon had changed, too, to match the blade in its katana form. It took on a fan-like quality, with artwork – and Mito gasped.
"The fan to burēdo," Mito realized.
"Yep." Naruto placed the blade on her arm, and the weapon was sealed back up. There was a silence. "Okay, no offense –"
Mito leaned up close. "How did you come by –"
"My father was a Senju, my mother an Uzumaki," Naruto snapped, pushing the first jinchuuriki away. "I don't – I've never used it and I've never trained for a naginata, okay? I'm never going to."
"You will have to use the fan," Mito said quietly.
Naruto hesitated.
"Mito-san, don't tell anyone who I am," Naruto said. "Don't let Madara or Hashirama try to find us, okay?"
She saw Reborn watching.
"And –" She hesitated. "You'll see a girl, and she'll be the second – the second of what you're going to be."
"Naruto," Reborn started.
Naruto ignored him.
"Don't tell her anything, just say that – just say that her daughter will love her, no matter what."
There were tears for moments like these.
Mito's eyes were wide and curious.
"And – and my father, you'll –"
"Naruto," warned Reborn.
"This is one of my only chances, Reborn!" She was crying now, and Reborn's eyes widened. "Tell my father I love him, please. You'll know who he is," Naruto assured Mito.
"I will," she promised, just as Bermuda's mist yanked them back into their time, but Naruto's home.
And she cried.
It was similar to a baby's cry, but different enough that it gathered the attention of the Varia.
Reborn had no idea how to react.
~:~
"What the fuck?"
The fourteen-year-old ninja certainly had a mouth.
"Don't bother trying to move. Your sensei hired me to keep you safe for the next month and a half."
He had explosives placed everywhere on this disposable property. Hauling her had been easy – she was barely 100 pounds.
"Jiraiya?" she sounded out of it, loopy.
"Yeah. Sorry about the whole mysterious thing, kid."
"I'm fourteen!"
"Yeah, you're a kid."
He turned to look at her.
"You're only, what, ten years older than I am?"
"Eight," he admitted. "I'm twenty-two."
"I'm not a kid, then!" Her blue eyes challenged him.
"Yeah, you're a kid, still."
She scowled petulantly. "Fuck you," she said, sounding less loopy.
He shot her with one of his tranquilizer darts, with enough tranq to take down a freakin' elephant.
She seemed to be able to resist it, her eyes drooping just enough to let him know it worked faster in her system than it did in ordinary peoples'.
(He wasn't surprised.)
"Why would Jiraiya hire a civilian?"
"In my world I'm a hitman, kid."
"I said I'm not a kid!" Her eyes flashed legitimate red.
"And I said you are, you annoying, troublesome brat. Now do you want me to shoot you or what?"
He aimed his gun at her.
She blinked at the gun.
"You do know that I could probably run out of here before your civilian finger is able to squeeze that thing, right?"
He smirked at her. "I have excellent eyesight and I never miss, kid."
She gulped.
His smirk widened as she remained where she was.
~:~
"I just wanted them to know I loved them," she admitted to Reborn not long after she'd stopped crying.
"I know," Reborn said to her. "You don't need to worry about them. They probably know."
She smiled despite herself and jumped up. "Tsuna! If Bermuda let us back here, then Tsuna either failed or completed my trial!"
"You were going to give him the seal anyway, weren't you?" deadpanned Reborn.
"Yep!" Naruto seemed to sparkle in that moment. "But… I can't go with you, Reborn." She wasn't being stubborn – her adult self could (hopefully) handle what she'd started. "And I think… I think Shoichi-san knows that. I have a different job to do."
~:~
"This isn't a good idea." It wasn't the first time Skull had said that, and it most certainly wouldn't be the last.
"Skull, I'm not asking permission from you to hunt down my enemy and kill him, I'm asking if you want to come so that I remember why I'm still trying to kill him," she bluntly said, zipping up her duffel bag full of weapons.
Skull took a deep breath, then nodded. "Alright, fine! Oodaku!" His giant octopus moved silently behind them, looming over them. "Let's take my blimp."
"Okay," Naruto said, completely agreeable.
Skull looked at her suspiciously. "You were aiming for that?"
"I don't have a subtle bone in my body," Naruto admitted with a bright smile.
They got to his blimp.
~:~
Well under way, Naruto closed her eyes to get some shut eye.
"And you know what, girl?" Madara pulled her chin forward. "It's so entertaining, watching you and your pathetic class of shinobi fight – even when you're not the one fighting!"
She spat in his face. It flew through and landed on the opposite wall.
"You're using the statue to kill them, though," she countered. "How… Pathetic of you, really. You could've avoided this whole thing if you'd used common sense, asshole!"
With one well-practiced move, Naruto had her thighs on the man and attempted to break his neck.
Like she knew he would, he phased through.
"Looks like we need to restrict your movement even further," he said, walking backwards. "Kabuto, do the honors, would you?"
Kabuto bowed his head.
Naruto watched him warily as Madara moved away.
Kabuto met her eyes.
"I would rather kill her. I'm rather bored," Kabuto mused. "We'd only have to wait four more years to do that."
"I really don't give a fuck. If she dies, she kills the rest of the army," Madara flicked his hand before dematerializing.
Quick, like a snake, Kabuto's hand covered in chakra flashed out, his smirk widening.
Naruto closed her eyes – rather ungracefully hitting the dirt as a result.
"Anko-chan, give her a hand, would you?" Kabuto turned away as Naruto was helped by the snake woman, who looked pale but otherwise unharmed.
"Why?" Naruto asked as Anko lifted her up. "Why help us?"
"I owe a lot to you, Naruto-chan." Kabuto turned yellow eyes on her. "After all, it was your copy that told Itachi-san where I was. Question is, why not tell him where you were?"
Naruto smiled faintly. "Selfishness isn't an attractive trait."
~:~
She jerked awake.
If only Obito hadn't done that… Momoshiki wouldn't be our enemy.
"Naruto, looks like New York is a prime target for activity that's not human… Monitoring chakra residue. Wow."
Naruto leaned over, looking at the console.
"Holy shit. Guess there was some truth that Kaguya came from another – Skull, what the fuck is that?!"
Her hand waved to the ship passing next to them.
"Not good," Skull replied grimly, taking in the sigil. "These assholes tried taking this thing down once before. Oodaku, speed up!"
There was a mild jolt.
"Activate reflection panels! Full silence, save for the chakra monitor!"
Every panel turned black-and-white as everything electronic died.
Naruto's wide eyes watched the ship pass by.
~:~
The purple blimp passed without real notice. If a guy hadn't been playing a video game, he would've raised the alarm about one of his boss' possible allies.
~:~
"Assuming everything is correct, Momoshiki should be in New York. Which sucks for us, because we're going to be in a hotspot of humanity," Skull said, looking troubled.
Naruto frowned. "Most likely he'll try to draw chakra out from them. Sadly, chakra's not exactly in people, it's basically the atmosphere." Naruto frowned, shaking her head. "Okay, it's life energy. Better description."
"Which means that he can probably suck the life energy out of any random human. Luckily, I think we can fix that." Skull turned to her, his big purple eyes calculating. "If we have Mammon broadcast an alarm, making people get out…"
"Or we use Mist Flames," Naruto said, cutting him off. "Let them think it's their own choice."
"We're going to need a pretty damn powerful Mist," Skull said, frowning. "And Dokuro Chrome's the only one we know."
Naruto shivered. "Unless Mammon can give us the location of another Mist who could help."
~:~
Daemon Spade eyed the two Arcobaleno poring over an electronic map.
"I don't think that Mammon's guide will get here." The Sky Arcobaleno sounded disappointed.
"I trust Mammon. They've been helpful."
"If he doesn't come, then I've just spent six thousand on trying to get a Mist that actually wants to avoid collateral damage."
Daemon coughed politely.
"You requested my presence?" he asked, smiling at them as politely as he could.
"AIIEEEE!"
The Sky jumped and vanished within a millisecond of seeing Daemon.
"Who are you?" asked the Cloud Arcobaleno, glaring at him.
"I am Daemon Spade," he introduced. "Ghost."
"GHOST!" The Sky's terrified shout met their ears.
"Oh, dear," Skull sighed. "Did Mammon tell you what we wanted?"
"Among other things," Daemon nodded. "I will do what I can to help."
He was bound by Mammon's contract, expertly written up.
(He regretted one thing. Not reading that damn contract all the way through.)
~:~
Tsuna coughed in pain. Byakuran sighed and rolled his shoulders.
"Well, now…" Byakuran smiled. "You really need to stop meddling in stuff, dear one."
Tsuna furrowed his brows as Byakuran snapped his fingers. A pulse of Sky Flames seemed to ping off of the pacifier, of which its owner appeared, glaring at him.
It was odd to see such an expression on her face. Or, you know, her as an adult period. Tsuna was already too used to her being a baby.
"I know," Naruto responded tightly. "You can feel it too."
"Yes," Byakuran smiled amicably. "I can See it, too. Your past self… Trying to destroy Momoshiki once and for all."
"My idiocy knows no bounds."
"What –" Tsuna coughed. "What happens if she succeeds?"
Byakuran chuckled. "Oh, she won't. Now, shall we resume our battle, Tsu-kun?"
Tsuna's eyes blazed with rage.
"Don't call me that!"
~:~
Naruto stood on top of the tallest skyscraper. Wind howled around them.
"MOMOSHIKI, COME OUT."
Her voice, amplified by chakra, boomed across New York City, shattering windows.
Skull, having chakra of his own, had skedaddled.
Good thing, too.
Momoshiki's presence appeared right behind her.
"Hello, lover," he whispered. "Did you enjoy that little show I gave you a few years ago?"
She whirled, and his thumb was on her forehead, throwing her into the hell of that time.
~:~
In various time zones, the Arcobaleno stopped, their eyes wide and feeling everything their Sky was, forced to by the deep connection Naruto had forged with them.
Even Tsuna was forced to his knees, forced to visit the memory in the middle of a battle that was life or death.
~:~
"Finally!" Naruto stared at her land with a smile.
A lone figure stood at the end of the dock, and Naruto's eyes widened as Momoshiki touched the earth under him.
In an instant, the land – as far as she could see – was black.
And then it vanished.
Not even her clan island remained.
Momoshiki's voice whispered to her.
'This chakra is mine. Your people… Mine.'
She ran across the place where her home had once been, thinking, maybe it was just a seal.
She searched high and low, under the water and up in the sky –
-until Checkerface appeared.
"Naruto. You should've wait –"
His eyes widened at the space where her country should've been.
"They're here somewhere, right?" Naruto refused to believe they were gone. "Because they can't…" She swallowed thickly. "They can't be gone – they're not, I just have to find them."
"Naruto…" Checkerface closed his eyes. "I'm afraid they're gone."
"NO." Wrath Flames flared up, protecting her. "No." She settled into a stage of denial. "They're not gone. They're NOT."
~:~
"Pathetic."
Naruto trembled, scared beyond belief. How could she think that she could win?
"You're just trash! Trash that will be absorbed into me, giving me power."
Naruto eyed his hand in the reflection, getting closer all the time.
To fail a mission is to be trash, an old friend had once said to her. To fail to save your comrades is to be worse than trash.
"To think I was going to use the purple one."
She jerked in surprise, looking behind Momoshiki.
Skull lay there, crumpled and unmoving.
"You made a mistake," she said, steadily, his hand stopping once more.
"And what would that be, dear?"
She met Momoshiki's eyes, anger pouring out of hers.
"You just got me pissed off."
~:~
Reborn readied himself to intervene.
If Tsuna didn't get ahold of himself, he was gonna –
Naruto jumped to Tsuna, placing a hand on his shoulder briefly and whispering something to him.
Tsuna jerked and raised his Flame-filled hands, blasting himself backwards.
"Naruto," Reborn said to her, speaking at normal volume. "Are you sure you want to –"
"Reborn…" Naruto's fist clenched. "I just learned something from Ginger Bread." She looked directly at Byakuran. "You killed Skull."
Reborn was about to pull out his gun when smoke poofed around him, and he was suddenly staring at Byakuran from a much higher vantage point.
He wasted no time, knowing Byakuran had to have a backup plan for unexpected things.
"Ciaosu," Reborn smirked, firing his gun.
Byakuran managed to evade it, just evade it, with wide panic in his eyes.
"Tsuna, Naruto! Time to do your duty!"
He fired again.
Tsuna and Naruto entered, Naruto yanking Tsuna out of the way of a bullet, only for Tsuna to push her out of a Flame burst from the opposing Sky.
And he thanked Naruto from the past for doing whatever the hell she/he was doing.
~:~
Drip, drip.
"Gomen'ne, Kurama." She eyed the sleeping beasts in her mind. "But I need your power. Please, lend me your strength. I… Have to avenge them. The rest of the shinobi deserve to rest, not be used as some power-source."
They'd been asleep for the past thirty years, never waking up in all that time. Maybe it had to do with the curse.
Naruto didn't know.
She eyed the last, the unknown.
"Juubi-san," she said, placing a hand on the massive, ten-tailed, wolf-like being. "Please lend me your power."
She allowed her chakra to resonate.
And his chakra, his name, his power, moved through her.
~:~
Momoshiki's hand was stopped by a staff.
He looked down, into a pale face with three eyes. A Sharingan, a Rinnegan, and a Byakugan all shared the space as the Juubi jinchuuriki stared at him calmly.
The very adult Juubi jinchuuriki.
"But –" he swallowed. "You vowed –"
"I never break a promise," Naruto said, staring at him, not moving. "And you'll notice that I say I promise or I vow when I mean it. Obviously, I didn't mean it, dumbass, because I never said either."
She could feel her Harmonized elements in some sort of awed shock, and she saw a very adult Skull blinking.
She kicked Momoshiki before following him into the sky, her ability to fly sticking with her.
She materialized her family blade. It took the shape of a katana and a fan; Naruto unwrapped it and cut her arm a little, watching Momoshiki.
She let the sword drop in a calculated move, shoving Momoshiki aside when he attempted to reach it, knowing of its abilities.
It sank into the top of the tower's foundation.
"Useless," Momoshiki scoffed.
Naruto smirked.
The entire world lit up in a single seal, protecting the chakra-less.
"Now it's just you and I, Momoshiki-kun," Naruto purred, licking her lips. "I'm going to enjoy ripping you apart!"
They collided with rage.
~:~:~:~:~:~
*Claps* Yeah, next chapter will be the last. (Possibly.) If you have any requests of what you want to see in it, speak, because… It's clearly AU here, people, and I STILL haven't seen the ending of the anime, so don't sue me.
Also, YES, I dropped hints that, in this universe, the Avengers exist. (New York, mentions of a giant flying ship and a guy playing a video game?)
I didn't want this to be like a multifandom thing, which was why I didn't explicitly say anything like SHIELD or Fury, but if you're game for a sequel that includes KHR, Naruto, and the Avengers? Tell me and I might do it, cause if you know how many stories I have up you should also know I am a terrible procrastinator.
Anyway, that's it for now! angelslaugh out!
(Oh, and review please! Thank you!)